Church the Italian put in primary area (8)
I believe the answer is:
basilica
'church' is the definition.
(basilica is a kind of church)
'the italian put in primary area' is the wordplay.
'the italian' becomes 'il' (the in Italian).
'put in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'primary' becomes 'basic' (I've seen this before).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'il' going into 'basic' is 'basilic'.
'basilic'+'a'='BASILICA'
(Other definitions for basilica that I've seen before include "Roman style of building" , "Roman Catholic cathedral with special privileges" , "Early style of church" , "Large (Roman Catholic) church" , "Form of church building" .)